Man of Steel Haiku Review

Superman Haiku Review

1. I Liked the first half/
Interesting alternate/
Krypton backstory/
#haiku

2. Good production design/
Krypton’s parallel of earth/
Though clumsy green points/
#haiku

3. Politics’ Absence/
Was strangely highlighted by/
Light skinned black gen’rals/
#haiku

4. Did not like the suit/
Sent by Jor El predicting/
His hero status/
#haiku

5. Kryptonite metal/
Was anything from Krypton/
Should have proved fatal/
#haiku

6. Paradoxically/
I liked the “S-Key” tying/
Krypton to present/
#haiku

7. Hollywood action/
Swallowed the movie’s last half/
With gross Air-Force-Porn/
#haiku

8. Immigrant status/
Of Kal-El bothered no-one/
Because he was white/
#haiku

9. Liked the destruction/
Of the spy predator drone/
Comments on freedom/
#haiku

10. *Man of Steel* movie/
Was not without some fissures/
I’ll give it”B+”/
#haiku

Gatsby Haiku Review

#Baz #Luhrmann’s #Gatsby/
Was surprisingly pleasant/
A pretty good #flick/
#haiku

Production design/
& DeCaprio’s #Gatsby/
Were well worth watching/
#haiku

Fantastic Costumes/
& faux aged New York City/
Were interesting/
#haiku #gatsby

Clever impression/
If not true fidelity/
In this new #Gatsby/
#haiku

#Race’s clever use/
Added a new patina/
On segregation/
#haiku #Gatsby

Ubiquitous #Blacks/
Reminded viewers of #race/
Without preaching much/
#haiku #Gatsby

Desire Sonnet (all 4 drafts)

(revisions in reverse order)

Desire Sonnet
draft 4.
How intoxicating human desire/
Imaginations and passions inspire/
All-encompassing, these needs created/
By which nothing real* can be abated/

Desire refocuses human vision:/
Within, our souls surrender decisions;/
What we want to possess, possesses us/
We are controlled by our uncontrolled lust/

Within all living beings there exists/
A primitive saboteur who then twists/
Our selfish wants into eternal needs/
Without conscious awareness that it’s greed/

Our deep lusts, fantasies, (& tiny wants)/
Are fruits of our subconscious Ego’s taunts/
*true

Desire Sonnet
draft 3.
How intoxicating human desire/
Imaginations and passions inspire/
All-encompassing, these needs created/
By which nothing real* can be abated/

Desire refocuses human vision:/
Within, our souls surrender decisions;/
What we want to possess, possesses us/
We are controlled by our uncontrolled lust/

Within all living beings there exists/
A primitive saboteur who then twists/
Our selfish wants into eternal needs/
Without conscious awareness that it’s greed/

Our deep lusts, fantasies, & even needs/
Are flowers of our Ego’s little seeds/
*true

Desire Sonnet
draft 2.
How intoxicating human desire/
Imaginations and passions inspire/
All encompassing, are needs created/
That nothing mortal can at all make sated/

Desire refocuses human vision:/
Within, our souls surrender decisions;/
What we want to possess, possesses us/
We are controlled by our uncontrolled lust/

Within conscious human beings there is/
An enemy spy with a trite “pop-quiz:”/
Biological or cultural? What’s/
That which overrides or undermines thoughts/

Our deep lusts, fantasies, & even needs/
Are flowers of our Ego’s little seeds/

Desire Sonnet
draft 1.
How intoxicating human desire/
Imaginations and passions inspire/
All encompassing, are needs created/
That nothing mortal can at all make sated/

Desire refocuses human visions:/
Within, our souls rescind decisions;/
What we want to possess, possesses us/
We are controlled by our uncontrolled lust/

Within conscious human beings there is/
An enemy spy with a trite pop-quiz:/
Biological or cultural? What’s/
That which overrides or undermines thoughts/

Our deep lusts, fantasies, & even needs/
Are flowers of our Ego’s little seeds/

Contented Sonnet

Contented Life Sonnet II
[RErevision]

I have scaled the dizzying heights in life/
Where style’s premiums don’t matter/
Enjoying simple pleasures with my wife/
Make youth’s sweet conquests trite anti-matter/

Garish achievement of modern excess/
Burnished by wealth & youth’s pneumatic curves/
Are distractions, mere possessions tasteless:/
Undermining dignity and reserve/

Life’s simple common everyday pleasures/
Companionship, comfort, community/
Are destroyed by modern drastic measures:/
(Disgusting excess’s impunity)/

So I will enjoy what I’m enjoying/
Though to wanton desire it’s annoying/

Contented Life Sonnet
[unrevised]

I’ve attained the high plateau in life/
Where style’s premiums don’t matter/
Enjoying simple pleasures with my wife/
Make youth’s competition seem like blather/

Garish achievement of modern excess/
Burnished by wealth & pneumatic youth’s curves/
Those distractions, of possessions tasteless,/
From the straight and narrow will make you swerve/

Life’s simple psychological pleasures/
Companionship, comfort, community/
Are consumed by modern drastic measures/
(Disgusting excess’s impunity)/

So I will enjoy what I’m enjoying/
Though to consumerism:* annoying/
*capitalism

10a. I wrote a sonnet/
On middle aged contentment/
Because I’m happy/
#haiku

10b. I wrote a sonnet/
On middle aged contentment/
To convince myself/
#haiku

Sledding in Woodside Queens 2013

35. Sledding in Woodside/
With the people of the world/
Human gravity/
#haiku

http://bit.ly/V7d1pW

2/10/13

50. The snowy hillside/
In Woodside’s Doughboy playground/
Is peppered with fun/
#haiku

51. Here Colombians/
Bengalis, Tibetans as/
Americans slide/
#haiku

52. Snowy experience/
ReCaptured digitally/
Are sent to tropics/
#haiku

53. iPad made movies/
Of happy Americans/
Are sent far away/
#haiku

54. Woman with hijab/
Gucci covered iPad films/
Her smiling children/
#haiku

55. Korean father/
Roars down the tree covered hill/
Ecstatically loud/
#haiku

56. Mexican fam’ly/
Unloads children & their sleds/
Then tackle papí/
#haiku

57. Americans all/
We enjoy democracy/
Of our acceptance/
#haiku

36. Sledding with children/
Overshot my playfulness/
Collided with age/
#haiku

37. Clenching rope handles/
Spinning beyond all control/
Damaged ring finger/
#haiku

38. Regretting my ride/
Because I injured myself/
Shows a lack of faith/
#haiku

39. Staying young inside/
More important than safety/
For immortal* souls/
#haiku *eternal

40. Aging bodies recede/
To within our comfort zone/
Abandoning youth/
#haiku

41. Aches and troubles/
Of old immaturity/
Are truly priceless/
#haiku

42. Youthfulness’s worth/
Though dangerous to old men/
Keeps their spirits fresh/
#haiku

43. Adventure’s value/
Is an internal journey/
Exploring within*/
#haiku *our souls

44. The pains in my body/
Temporarily remind/
My mind I’m alive/
#haiku

45. This throbbing finger/
Beats the rhythm of my heart/
Where I can feel it/
#haiku

46. I regret nothing/
Because I’m educated/
By experience/
#haiku

47. While I don’t like pain/
It reminds me I’m alive/
Here to live for now/
#haiku

48. Wedding tourniquet/
The ring keeps my red blood in/
The heart of my life/
#haiku

49. Ring’s Symbol becomes/
An active agent in life/
I cherish it so/
#haiku

Lovers’ Lane’s Litter

49Ib. Lover’s lane litter/
“Super Sensitive: Bareback”/
(Cold the next morning)/
#haiku

49Ia. Lover’s lane litter/
“Extra Sensitivity”/
(Cold the next morning)/
#haiku

49II. Commercial lovers:/
Free-enterprise of desire/
(Fugitive feelings)/
#haiku

49III. Anonymous sex/
Along the #Queens #BQE/
Satisfies something/
#haiku

49IV. Industrial “love”/
Monetized sex relations/
Indict emptiness/
#haiku

49V. Erection assistance/
Cialis chemically/
Does what lust can’t do/
#haiku

The [Annotated] Gift of Today

22. The gift of today/
Arrives before I’m ready/
To savor its wealth/
#haiku

23. I open my gift/
Look at all the small pieces/
& feel overwhelmed/
#haiku

24. We’re all small children/
Christmas morning greedily/
Opening presents/
#haiku

25. Presents we’re given/
Have “some assembly required”/
We don’t want to do/
#haiku

26. We sit on the floor/
Gifts & wrapping everywhere/
Refusing to build/
#haiku

27. This imperfect world/
Requires some assembly/
To become Heaven/
#haiku

28. Pick up the pieces/
& assemble your Heaven/
From what Life’s* given/
#haiku *G_d’s

[annotated version]

22. The gift of today/
Arrives before I’m ready/
To savor its wealth/
#haiku

This is a commentary on how I am distracted by my personal meditations when I should be working on my academic work.

23. I open my gift/
Look at all the small pieces/
& feel overwhelmed/
#haiku

I am correcting my manuscript but I’d rather “play poet” & philosophize my feelings.

24. We’re all small children/
Christmas morning greedily/
Opening presents/
#haiku

Here I return to the “gift metaphor” using Christmas to describe my work as a gift before a spoiled & petulant child.

25. Presents we’re given/
Have “some assembly required”/
We don’t want to do/
#haiku

I place myself in the general flow of ungrateful (western) humans who want a “prefabricated Heaven” assembled by G_d while continuing the modern Christmas metaphor for heaven.

26. We sit on the floor/
Gifts & wrapping everywhere/
Refusing to build/
#haiku

I expand the metaphor of spoiled child at Christmas, thinking of the paper I should be editing. The paper, my work, is a metaphor for Heaven.

27. This imperfect world/
Requires some assembly/
To become Heaven/
#haiku

I think this is my philosophy, that life is Heaven! I remember when I got clean & sober & I went from Hell to Heaven in 90 days. I wish I felt that again more viscerally (90 in 90!)

28. Pick up the pieces/
& assemble your Heaven/
From what Life’s* given/
#haiku *G_d’s

I use G_d & Life interchangeably. Does that diminish or re-enforce my atheism/agnosticism?

Finally, I rather like the invocation-jeremiad to improve your life through work and faith.

enSlaved Metaphor

33p. enSlaved Metaphor/
Tortured for information/
Regarding this man/
#haiku

33a. Slaves to luxury/
Serving the gilded master/
Demanding our ease/
#haiku

33b. Slaves to property/
Toiling in consumption’s fields/
Harvesting desire/
#haiku

33c. Propriety’s slaves/
Seeing appropriate looks/
Approving of lies/
#haiku

33d. Enslaved by desire:/
Beaten at the whipping post/
Of public longing/
#haiku

33q. Celebrity’s slave/
Cool balm of fame glistening/
Upon abject fear/
#haiku

33e. Enslaved by desire:/
Beaten at the whipping post/
Of covetousness/
#haiku

33f. Enslaved by habits/
I ease into middle age/
Beaten by comforts/
#haiku

33g. My hard master is/
The sloth which is my reward/
For working my job/
#haiku

33h. Taking my comfort/
Supplants dreams of greatness/
With relaxation/
#haiku

33i. My relaxation/
Is the mental camouflage/
I hide my dreams with/
#haiku

33k. Until I admit/
I am a slave to habit/
I cannot escape/
#haiku

33l. Freedom’s frightening/
I am responsible there/
For all my actions/
#haiku

33m. I am so enslaved/
In my abject servitude:/
Maintaining my life/
#haiku

33n. My overseer/
Whips with justification/
In the fields of sloth/
#haiku

33o. Still I won’t escape/
To freedom where I can fail/
(“Better the devil…”)/
#haiku

33j. Thank you for the truth/
My writing has beaten me with/
In your presence G_d/
#haiku

Pleasure

Philosophy Haikus 35

1/14/13

1. My Lavish success/
Ability to enjoy/
All humanity/
#haiku

2. Vocabulary/
Reorders awarenesses/
Throughout our thinking/
#haiku

3. Indispensable/
Reconsiderations make/
Happier people/
#haiku

4. Superlative thoughts/
Create original worlds/
Out of common things/
#haiku

5. Exquisitely made/
Dreams come from optimism/
That cannot be sold/
#haiku

6a. Shirking convention/
Optimistic dreamers grow/
Originally/
#haiku

6b. Shirking convention/
Optimistic dreamers grow/
Unusual joy/
#haiku

Judging by Judging

(I finished Tom Reiss’ The Black Count, a good read.)

33. Primitive Living/
Is modern independence/
From society/
#haiku

34. Individuals:/
Products of society/
No-0ne* is self-made/
#haiku *nothing

35. Isolated souls/
Depend upon their hardware/
Eschewing people/
#haiku

36. Myth: independence/
Self-Created Characters/
Require audience/
#haiku

37. Self-Made characters/
Pre-suppose an audience:/
Fantasizing souls/
#haiku

38. Fantasizing souls/
Dream’s shirking obligations/
To “other” people/
#haiku